So, maybe I'm kinda stupid, or the answer is simply "because it's fantasy," but I have some issues with the premises of the books.

Firstly, the whole thing with seasons lasting years. How do you measure a "year" if not by the passing of the seasons? Also, how do crops and stuff work in such a world? Do you just plant whenever you feel like it and a few months later the crop is ripe? What about perennial plants, some of them need frost or such to reset their growing period.

Spoiler:

Second, if I read the maps right, Braavos is about as far north as the Fingers, or noch much further south. So how come it's not as cold or stormy? On the other end, Volantis seems to suffer from the same heat as Dorne, and they are about level too so here the weather fits. I also don't understand where the "Dothraki Sea" is. In Dance with Dragons, it seems to be east of Slaver's Bay, but when Dany is taken from Pentos they don't travel that far, and Dothraki sometimes raid near the Rhoyne.

The smallest unit of time in the multiverse is the New-York-Second, defined as the period of time passing between the traffic light turning green and the cab behind you honking. - Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

Second, if I read the maps right, Braavos is about as far north as the Fingers, or noch much further south. So how come it's not as cold or stormy? On the other end, Volantis seems to suffer from the same heat as Dorne, and they are about level too so here the weather fits. I also don't understand where the "Dothraki Sea" is. In Dance with Dragons, it seems to be east of Slaver's Bay, but when Dany is taken from Pentos they don't travel that far, and Dothraki sometimes raid near the Rhoyne.

You get weird weather patterns in the real world as well - moscow is about as far north as London, but people are rarely on the verge of dying in their apartments from the cold. Most of Canada is south of Denmark, but we rarely have snow that stays on the ground for more than two weeks. New york sees snow most winters, but is about as far south as turkey, where snowfall outside the mountains is a "once in a generation" thing. Streams in the oceans, ocean/continental climate and mountains changing the wind streams all make simple "north/south" guesses at weather quite wrong.

And I've always imagined the weather in aSoIaF as being normal seasons as a sinus curve, and a much more extreme irregular curve that. So every "long summer" would have sub seasons that just doesn't vary as much.

As for the Dothraki sea, I get the distinct impression that it's rather large, and the dothraki themselves are quite diverse.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it - Aristotle

A White Russian, shades and a bathrobe, what more can you want from life?

I realised something about book 5 when I was biking home from work yesterday, about the Quentyn storyline that I hadn't seen the big point of

Spoiler:

It's partly about showing "dragons are fucking scary, dangerous and not little pets. But it's also about taking away a ally from Dany, Doran Martell is not going to be happy that his son just became BBQ - and she didn't have many allies in westeros to begin with, if she doesn't pick up an army on her way there, she wont have the entirety of dorne at her command due to the BBQ incidet.

Which coupled with her brother invading as well (something that she doesn't know anything about) isn't going to make her arrival at westeros terrible easy.

This realisation makes the chapters make a lot more sense to me now

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it - Aristotle

A White Russian, shades and a bathrobe, what more can you want from life?

It's partly about showing "dragons are fucking scary, dangerous and not little pets. But it's also about taking away a ally from Dany, Doran Martell is not going to be happy that his son just became BBQ - and she didn't have many allies in westeros to begin with, if she doesn't pick up an army on her way there, she wont have the entirety of dorne at her command due to the BBQ incidet.

Which coupled with her brother invading as well (something that she doesn't know anything about) isn't going to make her arrival at westeros terrible easy.

This realization makes the chapters make a lot more sense to me now

Spoiler:

I thought of that too- as soon as Doran Martell finds out what she did to his son, he'll probably throw in with... Aegon (is that his name?). Anyway, I agree that that's where the story seems to be going and it explains the existence of Quentyn. It doesn't explain why we needed ~100 pages of him being boring and whiny.

I thought of that too- as soon as Doran Martell finds out what she did to his son, he'll probably throw in with... Aegon (is that his name?). Anyway, I agree that that's where the story seems to be going and it explains the existence of Quentyn. It doesn't explain why we needed ~100 pages of him being boring and whiny.

Spoiler:

Actually, I think it was partly to show just how pathetic and whiny for this job he is - showcasing that for all Doran's bluster to his daughter and nieces, he makes mistakes, And making it his own damn fault that his son has been BBQ'ed. Really, when you get right down to it, he's so utterly unsuited to impress someone that has been married to a khal and has her own dragons, that it was a failed mission from the part where he got the orders. That he got turned into roasted dornishman wasn't expected, but neither was it terrible surprising.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it - Aristotle

A White Russian, shades and a bathrobe, what more can you want from life?

In FFC, Sam went to Braavos (or one of the Free Cities) with Gilly, and hilarity ensued. In DWD, Jon sends Sam and Gilly away to save her. Just to make sure I'm not completely missing something here, this is the same event from two different perspectives, yes? I know there's chronological overlap, but I having been paying attention to it so am wondering 'when' we are for some things.

... with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.

In FFC, Sam went to Braavos (or one of the Free Cities) with Gilly, and hilarity ensued. In DWD, Jon sends Sam and Gilly away to save her. Just to make sure I'm not completely missing something here, this is the same event from two different perspectives, yes? I know there's chronological overlap, but I having been paying attention to it so am wondering 'when' we are for some things.

Spoiler:

Yes, it's exactly the same situation just from Jon's POV, probably partly to set the scene and remind the reader where/when we are, and because Jon has reasons for his actions that Sam doesn't know.

About the Quentyn storyline, I think it's to prove yet again that young men can't be trusted not to majorly fuck things up. Cf. Rob Stark, Theon Greyjoy, Jon Snow, Loras Tyrell.

Now, does anyone beside me doubt a reasonable conclusion to the whole thing is possible in the remaining projected books (aside from some Deus Ex Machina)?

The smallest unit of time in the multiverse is the New-York-Second, defined as the period of time passing between the traffic light turning green and the cab behind you honking. - Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

Now, does anyone beside me doubt a reasonable conclusion to the whole thing is possible in the remaining projected books (aside from some Deus Ex Machina)?

Spoiler:

If by reasonable you mean "everyone lives happily ever after an dances around in fields of daffodils being friends" - then yes.

But I consider it perfectly reasonable to end with a conclusion in two books, things are really set to move fast now I think. It wont be a entirely happy ending, but to be honest, did anyone ever actually expect that?

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it - Aristotle

A White Russian, shades and a bathrobe, what more can you want from life?

Now, does anyone beside me doubt a reasonable conclusion to the whole thing is possible in the remaining projected books (aside from some Deus Ex Machina)?

Spoiler:

If by reasonable you mean "everyone lives happily ever after an dances around in fields of daffodils being friends" - then yes.

But I consider it perfectly reasonable to end with a conclusion in two books, things are really set to move fast now I think. It wont be a entirely happy ending, but to be honest, did anyone ever actually expect that?

I really need to pick up the fourth and fifth books, this could be the greatest thing ever. Also: hah! Nary a spoiler in that sentence!

If by reasonable you mean "everyone lives happily ever after an dances around in fields of daffodils being friends" - then yes.

But I consider it perfectly reasonable to end with a conclusion in two books, things are really set to move fast now I think. It wont be a entirely happy ending, but to be honest, did anyone ever actually expect that?

Spoiler:

Well, not "everyone lives happily ever after," but I'm despairing of anything less unsatisying than "everyone's dead, the Doom came to Westeros" or "the Others killed everyone."

I guess that's the problem I've had with each of the books since the second or so; they're all unsatisfying, but I still want to know how it turns out. They're a bit less unsatisfying on the second read, but it took me a situation of "I have nothing sensible else left to read" until I did that.

The smallest unit of time in the multiverse is the New-York-Second, defined as the period of time passing between the traffic light turning green and the cab behind you honking. - Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

He had to die, because he was being a young, stupid, hot-head. Or at least, he had to be slapped down, because that is what happens almost all of the time in this series.

Now, we have a fire-witch nearby, whose cult can heal ridiculous injuries (see the pirate's arm), and Jon's soul could easily be safe in Ghost for a time. This fire-witch also considers Jon to be very important (to the level of prophesy -- seeing his face when looking for another face that is important!). So I could see Jon being brought back through this means, or by somehow hopping from Ghost to an actual Dragon.

The evidence that Jon is a Tagarion is inconclusive. There is the tower of joy with 3 kingsguard outside where Ned's sister was found "in a bed of blood" and Ned made her a promise. The only other person who was alive to find out what happened there is the king(?) of (what I call in my head) the frog-people (Reed), which leaves a source for a future revelation. On the other hand, Jon is not a "true dragon" because he burned his hands throwing fire at the ice zombies. But it makes more sense than the (seeming) red herrings thrown out in this book. On the other hand, GRRM has been doing a lot to put tropes on their head...

One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision - BR

Yeah, it seems like something activated the magic. The red priest with the flaming sword who fought with Dondarrion had been around for a while and it seemed none of the characters knew of any magical abilities he may have and then all of a sudden he's bringing people back to life.

Isn't it implied in Book 2 or 3 that the magic is coming back because of the dragons? Something about when the alchemists were making the green fire the head alchemist said something along the lines of, "We havent been able to make things this fast with our spells since the day of the dragons" it was completely ignored by Tyrion who just asks him to keep making more. Sorry for vague-ness, bit sleepy and it's Friday

I assumed that the dragons are coming back because of the magic. And the fading of magic led to dragon metabolism failing (stunted dragons that wouldn't breed).

The return of magic would be also tied to the return of the others. The fall of magic might be tied to Valyria's doom -- the number of dragons falls from the doom, and a mere 250 years later there are no more dragons.

I had a strange thought -- that the wall was built not to defend the lands of men, but rather by the others to defend the lands of the others against men. . . It being a huge pile of ice magic seems more other-esque. . . Well, maybe not. But a wall faces both ways.

One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision - BR

Yakk wrote:Huh? The Seven are only in Westeros, which is a (relatively) small part of the world.

Right, but a majority of people in Westeros believe in them (at least technically), compared to the Drowned God or the old gods.

Sytri wrote:

Spoiler:

Isn't it implied in Book 2 or 3 that the magic is coming back because of the dragons? Something about when the alchemists were making the green fire the head alchemist said something along the lines of, "We havent been able to make things this fast with our spells since the day of the dragons" it was completely ignored by Tyrion who just asks him to keep making more. Sorry for vague-ness, bit sleepy and it's Friday

Spoiler:

I had assumed this was it, that the birth of the dragons brought about a resurgence in magic throughout the land. Yakk's ideas are interesting (lack of magic caused the stunted growth and poor breeding of the dragons), but I feel like that's because the dragons were born and bred in a pit. It has been said a couple times that the dragons bred during the reign of the Targaryen kings were never as large as those initially trained from wild stock, the way that bonsai trees are capable of becoming fully-grown trees but are unable to do so due to the constraints of their pots. I assume that somehow the wild populations collapsed and only the "domesticated" dragons remained until their collapse as well. I guess a decrease in magic would also explain that.

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life." -Terry Pratchett

I always thought that the dragon eggs hatching was just another way of magic making it's resurgence. I mean, there are many other events not directly connected to the dragons. The wrights of the north, the power of the fire god, the birth of a new greenseer, etc. The connection seems to be something in old valyria that finally settled. It was certainly the catastrophic event tied to the decline in magic anyway.

Title: It was given by the XKCD moderators to me because they didn't care what I thought (I made some rantings, etc). I care what YOU think, the joke is forums.xkcd doesn't care what I think.

Yakk wrote:Huh? The Seven are only in Westeros, which is a (relatively) small part of the world.

Right, but a majority of people in Westeros believe in them (at least technically), compared to the Drowned God or the old gods.

Sure. But when they showed up, the legend says that the 7 gods walked the world. Now, possibly this is true. Or not.

If not, it is quite possible that it spread during a "low-magic" period. In which case, why wouldn't you worship this non-magic faith if the other faiths are also non-magic?

Huh, I missed the part about them walking the world.

I guess I'm thinking of the Discworld universe where the more you believe in a deity, the stronger its power becomes. But I also feel like with how popular the Seven are in Westeros, we should be seeing more supernatural events attributed to them, like with the R'hllor priests and

Spoiler:

the once scene when the weirwood protects people from the White Walkers/Wights.

Also, I'm becoming more convinced about the surge in magical power not being directly attributed to the birth of the dragons.

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life." -Terry Pratchett

Is there some significance in greek or roman mythology with 7 "major" gods? It seems like the maesters are more techincally advanced. Modern. It wouldn't surprise me if they were more parallel to grekoroman non-magic based forces. GRRM seems to be using some tolken-eskque "it was such a long time ago people don't remember it right but may have actually evolved into our modern world" kinda thing.

Title: It was given by the XKCD moderators to me because they didn't care what I thought (I made some rantings, etc). I care what YOU think, the joke is forums.xkcd doesn't care what I think.

It doesn't have to be so literal. It's just part of the "historical" part of the fiction.

Tolkein made a mythology as much as a novel. It didn't grow organically over time like "real" mythology, but it was clearly his intent early on to make something with an eye towards the past in a realistic sort of way. I think GRRM is similarly making a mythology more than a fantasy. It's a story of our past through the eyes of some hypothetical people recanting a distorted tale passed through the generations from a time they didn't understand.

Title: It was given by the XKCD moderators to me because they didn't care what I thought (I made some rantings, etc). I care what YOU think, the joke is forums.xkcd doesn't care what I think.

Lord Wyman Manderly! I didn't even catch it on the first read-through, but he took those three missing Freys and made wedding pies out of them and fed them to everyone! Including himself!

Revenge is a dish best served hot and tasty. *slaps belly*

And those fucking Freys all deserve to die. Every last goddam one.

Spoiler:

It's a little disturbing that you pick you favourite based on a cannibalistic incident that was inflicted on people (without them knowing).

The scary part is that Manderly isn't particularly worse than any other character in the series. But cooking people into wedding pies is rather nasty.

Spoiler:

I guess I've always just been partial to stories involving revenge and cannibalism; i.e. Titus Andronicus. Mind you, I don't mean he's my favorite person; I wouldn't really want to hang out with Mr Manderly and I certainly wouldn't want to eat any food with him. But the skillful way he managed to get his revenge for the Red Wedding (which disturbed me so much to read that I've been looking forward to Frey comeuppance for some time myself), stay in power despite no real power of his own and no good options for allegiance (Stannis, Bolton and the Lannisters) and tie it all into his favorite thing to do and one of arguably the main themes of the book (food!) was pretty admirable IMO. Within the context of the book of course.

To summerize, the blogger found the books distasteful because if the prevalence or rape and threatened rape, that rape scenes are often eroticized, and that female characters display a lack of agency, especially sexually. Cersei does act with the same level of sexual freedom as many of the male characters and is, therefore, a villain. I think the blogger makes a good point about the level of brutality, especially sexual brutality, in these books. Reflecting on them, the level of sheer violence is the biggest thing separating this from any other endless fantasy doorstop. I'm adding them to Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in the list of fantasy books with compelling plots that I'll not read (nor recommend to others) because of how they handle sexual violence against women.

Obviously GRRM is not writing a fantasy world where Men and Women are equal. A lot of what he's complaining about falls from that. His fiction is purposely rooted in a world where women range from sex slaves to marital property and rarely more. In fact, Denary's ability to gain the loyalty of men is intentionally rare. I think your blogger there is forgetting that the strength of historical fiction comes in it's themes from history. Women being less powerful than Men is one of these key themes.

If literature has taught us anything, it's that the most effective way to show bigotry is to humanize it and to show both sides for what they are. Fiction has an uncanny way of showing truth by unrealistically leveling the point of view. In other words, writing about a rapist can be the single most powerful way to show the horrors of rape. GRRM's fantasy world of oppressed Women can have the effect of referencing things in our own past (and present for that matter) where women are oppressed.

Title: It was given by the XKCD moderators to me because they didn't care what I thought (I made some rantings, etc). I care what YOU think, the joke is forums.xkcd doesn't care what I think.

Counter-Argument : Westeros is not Europe, and the roles Women had in Europe are not even universal to Earth, so why would they apply to Westeros?Westeros has Magic. And Dragons. Earth does not.Westeros is assaulted by Magic Frost Demons, the Walking Dead and Dragons, yet.. has European culture. Why?

Georgie wrote it that way.

If you have a land assaulted by Magic Frost Demons, the Walking Dead, and Dragons, your culture is not going to mimic Europe. Also, you probably won't have towers in your castles. Just thick, unclimbable walls so as to keep the Magic Frost Demons and Walking Dead out, and low, rounded buildings to keep the Dragons from eating your shit.

Yes, the Dragons are essentially extinct, and yes, the Peoples have forgotten that Magic Frost Demons and Walking Dead are Real Things. They're also not entirely clear on whether or not Magic is real. This doesn't mean they'd tear down everything and suddenly build structures that make no sense, it means they might have new buildings that make no sense, but the old buildings and forts would be built to withstand Magic Frost Demons, Walking Dead, and Dragons.

So, what's the point in all my ramblings?

Women are only second class because George wrote them that way. Now, there's people who take the malicious tact and assume Georgie doesn't like women or actively thinks they're stupid and have cooties. Me? I just think it's lazy shorthand writing. Coming up with a culture that's actually been assaulted by Magic Frost Demons, Walking Dead and Dragons? That's Hard. Just drop Europe on it and make up some new names and call it a day.

Because I assure you, in a world assaulted by Magic Frost Demons that make Walking Dead, even the Dornish would have a phrase that roughly meant "Winter is coming"

Also "Oh shit, Dragons"

heuristically_alone wrote:I want to write a DnD campaign and play it by myself and DM it myself.

heuristically_alone wrote:I have been informed that this is called writing a book.

What? Has the person read the books? The rape scenes are horrific, terrifying, and lead us to feel nothing but revulsion and sympathy for those who are raped.

Czhorat wrote:Cersei does act with the same level of sexual freedom as many of the male characters and is, therefore, a villain

Cersei is NOT the only character in the series who displays sexual freedom, but she is a 'villain' because she's fucking insane, manipulative and vindictive, none of which have to do with her sexuality. There are at least two women I can think of offhand (Asha and Dany) who fuck like whoa and are mostly awesome on the side. But there aren't really villains, so much as people who want to get their way.

These blog posts are getting boring.

... with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.

The Valyrian only reach Westros 200 years before they invade (why wait that long?), or 100 years after the Doom. Within 130ish years after invading, the last Dragon dies. It has been ~300 years since the invasion.

The Long Night is about 10,000 years ago.

The structure built to defend against the others is the Wall, and structures with similar ages. There are few structures in Westros built to defend against Dragons, as they where a relatively recent event that "flamed out" quickly.

Issues I'd have include the slow speed of Valyrian conquest. But I could easily see castles being built to defend against local problems, rather than remote ancient myths.

One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision - BR

I feel like this is GRRM's take on how much the middle ages sucked and that stereotypical Disney princess stories aren't all they're cracked up to be. The older generation comes from such stories, of heroes overthrowing an evil despot, of gallant knights and arranged marriages and everyone doing their duty and liking it (even if they really don't, or eventually learning to like what they have). The younger generation of Arya, Sansa, Margaery, Asha, Dany, Brienne, and the Dornish princesses (hell, I'll even throw in Melisandre) resents this narrative and is (or will be) rising up to take the places of power previously held solely by the men. I think we're watching a cultural shift from one of "women through their babymaking are a great way to seal alliances and gain power" to "women can kick ass and take names, too, in any way that a man can." Any way that a man has gained power, these females are gaining power as well, from brawn to brains.

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life." -Terry Pratchett

The Valyrian only reach Westros 200 years before they invade (why wait that long?), or 100 years after the Doom. Within 130ish years after invading, the last Dragon dies. It has been ~300 years since the invasion.

The Long Night is about 10,000 years ago.

The structure built to defend against the others is the Wall, and structures with similar ages. There are few structures in Westros built to defend against Dragons, as they where a relatively recent event that "flamed out" quickly.

Issues I'd have include the slow speed of Valyrian conquest. But I could easily see castles being built to defend against local problems, rather than remote ancient myths.

Wasn't there a line in the last book where

Spoiler:

Someone (Tyrion, I think?) noted that Valyria stopped at Dragonstone for a very long time and wondered why the didn't invade Westeros earlier? I won't swear that I'm not misremembering, but I suspect the issues you have are issues Martin wants you to have and will be plot points down the road.

Sartorius wrote: Any way that a man has gained power, these females are gaining power as well, from brawn to brains.

Except there have been a handful of characters from the past described as pretty awesome; Arya apparently takes after Ned's sister Lyanna in personality and temperament. I think more than anything, these books are simply a window into yet more tumultuous times in the world; looking over the timeline, it doesn't seem like there's been true peace for a long long time.

... with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.